Category Archives: Other

Another Government Racket!

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From Martin County to Washington DC, the heavy hand of government intrusion into our economic markets continues.

 

The Federal Reserve is buying corporate debt to juice the financial health of big companies. This, of course, ends up with influencing the stock markets which have no relationship to the broader U.S. economy. The corporatists have friends in high places that allow this absurdity to continue. Yet the staff people who work for these companies are told their jobs have been eliminated.

 

It is a pattern that continues with the massive bailout of these same large corporations by the government where trillions of dollars are being spent because of the economic crisis. In that case, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has the gall to tell the American people that they do not even need to know where all that government largess is going. It is secret and proprietary. If $100,000,000 or even more goes to Steve’s uncle, he is saying the American taxpayers have no right to know where their tax money is going.

 

Locally, our very own Martin County Business Development Board (DBD) wants you to reauthorize its ability to give out tax money. This largess will go to favored existing businesses or companies moving to this area that will supposedly create new jobs. In study after study, it has been proven that money given to companies or to industry does not work in this intended way.

 

Even the jobs created are usually short term and costs thousands more per job than any increased taxes received.  It continues because there are interest groups that keep telling the tax-paying public it is a must have tool in the toolbox.

 

Here is what that tool does. It appropriates the tax dollars from Martin County residents to incentivizes a company to move here to create new jobs. You may say that is a good use of taxes. Yet is it?

 

Let us say that new company makes widgets. But, the widget makers that are already here and employing people are now going to subsidize their competition in the widget business with their tax dollars. Is that the American way?

 

When did it become economically justifiable for the government to decide which businesses are subsidized and which are not? Martin County does not have money to fix roads or drainage, but a friend always helps a friend especially if they can do so with your money.

 

The Business Development Board is supposedly a private non-government entity. Yet it derives almost its entire budget from their friends on the County Commission and other Martin governments. Everyone has a seat at the table but you, the taxpayer. Is this the way government should function?

 

What happened to spending your taxes on infrastructure? The vaunted quality of Martin schools is a fiction when compared to those in other parts of the country. If you want to compete for industry, then our schools need to be the best in the world…not better than Clay County’s. If you want industry, then it needs to be simple to open a business rather than making people spend needless months to get their approvals to do so. We need housing at all levels to support a diverse work force. Yet, we fight it at every turn.

 

The United States, including Martin County, has forgotten why we became an economic powerhouse. It was not because of economic subsidy but rather economic freedom. Existing businesses should not be kept on life support by the government buying their bonds or investing in their stock. Nor should Martin County tax money be used to favor Company A by doling out the money collected from Companies B through Z.

 

Martin County voters will decide the question of tax incentives this election. I urge you to vote no on this referendum and send the message that your tax money needs to be used for new drainage in Hobe Sound and Palm City. That we need to continue to spend money on our rivers and waterways to improve our quality of life. At the same time, let’s send a message that entities such as the BDB need to stop taking money from the government coffers.

 

I know I am tired of supporting the County elite in their good life. How about you?

The Tragedy We All Face

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On Sunday, Stuart and Martin County demonstrated that it could come together and embrace a unifying message of peace and love. Hundreds of our residents of all faiths and colors gathered to protest the sickening scourge of race hatred still alive throughout this country.  Law enforcement marched in solidarity with the citizens to show that a despicable action like the one in Minneapolis will not be tolerated here.

 

Yet while that act of brotherhood was going on in Stuart, throughout the United States often peaceful protests were disintegrating into rioting. America has a need to come together and not be drawn apart.

 

There are those who are looking to further a political narrative by sacrificing the principles of equality and justice that we should cherish. A stain is on the American soul that will not be gone until each American sees only another American and not his skin color.

 

We are all responsible for the continuation of the American sin. There are no innocents. As a society, if we allow men and women in their official capacities to see and treat others as less than human, that original American sin continues. There should be no place in today’s nation for racial prejudice to be perpetuated.

 

Yes, the officer that murdered George Floyd was arrested, but is that enough? I predict at any moment the other three police officers who acted as accomplices will also be charged. This may provide justice for Floyd’s family. We need to prevent any more families for having to seek this justice.The grief for Floyd’s family will continue. We must remember that Floyd’s family is part of our American family.

 

What will prevent this from occurring again? Floyd’s death was not an accident. The death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia was not an accident. The deaths of countless more were not accidents.

 

I remember legal segregation when I visited my grandparents in Florida as a kid. For me, the inexplicable idea that a black person could not eat here or use the bathroom there made no sense. I grew up in an integrated New York neighborhood, yet we still were segregated by choice if nor geography. Has anything really changed?

 

We have never been more divided and leaderless as we are today. There is no liberal or conservative doctrine that espouses the right to kill another person because of race. Can someone actually claim that Democrats or Republicans believe that there is an inherent constitutional right to riot and murder?

 

What we saw with our own eyes in the death of Floyd happened because Derek Chauvin had a willful disregard for that man’s life. Would Chauvin had acted similarly if Floyd had been a 6’6” white man?

 

One cannot claim to espouse the name of Jesus and then ignore his teachings. Whether when we pray it is to Jehovah, Allah, or God there is no place to claim His love and then be hateful in word and deed. In Proverbs 31:9 we are told to: “Open your mouths, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and the needy.”

 

America needs to stop the hate. Our political leadership from the president on down needs to cease using division as a tactic to secure their election victories. If you believe in American exceptionalism, then we have a moral responsibility as Americans to lead our lives righteously. The United States alone was founded not by people of the same tribe, race, or blood but by all adhering to a doctrine of civil faith.

 

We entrust police officers with the power to arrest and detain their fellow citizens. Our society gives the ultimate authority and discretion to a law enforcement officer to take a life if necessary. This is a solemn responsibility. In no way was the taking of George Floyd’s life by Derek Chauvin and his accomplices justifiable. It was murder.

America Has Seen This Before…Are We As Strong As Our Parents?

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As we look at how Covid-19 has affected our lives and economy, we feel that nothing like this has happened before. That is not true.

 

Man has faced infectious diseases since prehistoric times. Two diseases that were more common in the last century and how our society responded are good examples for us when dealing with Covid-19.

The first example is tuberculosis. Until the 1950s, sanitariums were quite common. A relative of mine became the food service director of several Catholic sanitariums in New York City in the 1940s. Before widespread use of antibiotics, people would remain in a sanitarium for months while convalescing. That would help them get proper care and keep from spreading the disease to others.

 

In the 19th century, tuberculosis was known as “consumption” or the wasting disease. Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Anton Chekhov were all writers that died of the disease. In our own western mythology, Doc Holiday contracted and died from TB. Ever since the vaccine for tuberculosis has been widely given in the United States, this disease has been under control. Yet it is estimated that 13 million Americans have latent tuberculosis infection even today.

 

 

What is closer to the current corona virus pandemic is the polio outbreaks of last century. While polio was present in the population throughout history, it was not as widespread until the late 19th and early 20th century. Prior to then young children up to the age of 4 would usually have very mild cases thus acquiring immunity. With the introduction of public water and sanitation systems, this natural immunity no longer occurred. The older you were the more severe the symptoms and prognosis. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the most famous of polio’s victims, became infected with the virus as a mature adult.

 

Every summer from the beginning of the 20th century until the Salk vaccine was approved in the mid-1950s, there would be an epidemic in part of the country. When the local Health Department began giving the vaccine, I remember lining up to take “my shot.” By the early 1960s, polio was no longer the scourge that it had been at one time in the developed world.

 

For the first half of the 20th century, polio was responsible for economic upheaval in parts of the United States every summer. Movie theaters, community pools, concert venues would all be closed when an outbreak occurred. Even during the worst year of the polio epidemic in 1952, there were only 3200 people that died of the disease in the U.S.

 

While Covid-19 has a much higher mortality rate, I believe there are still lessons to be learned from what was done then which can be applied today. There are many of us that believe that economics should take precedence over our community health. While I agree we cannot be in a permanent lock down, because of advances in science and technology, we are so much better able to manage than we would be if we were living in the 1950s.

 

We can safely shop in any store if masks are worn and social distancing is practiced. More and more of us can work from home which should be continued. We can conduct personal meetings using masks and social distancing. Tools such as Zoom allow us to continue to do so much virtually that in the past would be impossible. In order to do our jobs, many of us must interact with the public. Again, using social distancing and proper hygiene we can minimize the danger.

 

Our parents and grandparents were used to adversity. They accepted restrictions that we call infringement on our rights today. They knew that sacrifice for the common good was beneficial for society. This made them better able to cope with a pandemic than we are. They understood deferred gratification.

 

To us, a great tragedy is not going to the beach or sitting in a restaurant. While both can be done responsibly, we must realize that for the next year or more, intermittently closing those and the imposition of other short-term restrictions may be necessary for society to function.

 

Until a vaccine is found, this opening and closing will remain a fact of life. The United States has done a poor job of responding to this pandemic. Covid-19 will continue to devastate us both physiologically and economically if we do not use common sense. It may require us to close parks for a month, businesses for a month and schools for a month and then be prepared to open again once the wave subsides. And then 6 months later, perhaps close once more.

 

That is the type of behavior that allowed society to persevere in earlier times. We have modern science and medicine that will be able to give us back nearly all of what we had before. I say nearly because this pandemic, like other past disruptions, will change society in fundamental ways not yet known.

 

 

Booze Expands In Downtown Stuart

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Martin County and Stuart are taking baby steps in reopening. Downtown was especially hard hit in the past weeks when businesses were closed due to the pandemic. The City and the downtown business owners have taken great strides over the past 30 years to make the area a destination spot that drew visitors from literally the entire United States.

 

By writing an innovative code that allowed for individual “mom & pop” stores to thrive, the City showed that downtown would be revived and not turn into an outdoor mall with chain stores and too many bars and restaurants. This may now be in jeopardy because of the City government not following its own code.

 

The plan that was initiated for the downtown’s rebirth had mainly two ideas. The first was to limit chains by using design standards. In many instances, this precluded a Talbot’s, for instance, from renting space. This preserved the small-town charm and unique characteristics that have encouraged tourists and others venturing here to have a great experience.

 

The other part of the plan was to limit the sale of alcoholic beverages to not more than 30% of the downtown area. In that way, Stuart would not become a miniature Clematis Street or Delray Beach. Bars and restaurants can afford to pay higher rents. If allowed to multiply, those quaint boutiques would soon be out of business because they would be unable to compete.

 

Both have been instrumental in creating the downtown we have today. Now that is being threatened by either the City Development Office not knowing its own code or willful defiant actions of that code. A business expansion in one case and the signing of a new lease in another will place the City in an untenable situation.

 

The Black Marlin is expanding (with permits) into the Cigar store that was next to it, and Development has allowed the Cigar store to sign a lease in a new space knowing that its plan is to sell alcohol. Those two actions will result in over 30% of the downtown area selling booze in one form or another.

 

It is astounding to me that this could occur. Only the Commission can change an ordinance…not staff. Yet, here is Stuart with two businesses that have spent a substantial amount of money to expand with staff ignoring the 30% rule. What are the next steps?

 

In all probability, the Commission will retroactively allow for these exceptions to avoid possible litigation. The staff will beg forgiveness if pushed, but the Commission may never even know why they are saying yes to the doing away of the 30% rule. Staff is good at the mumble jumble of bureaucratize.

 

There were good reasons why that rule was placed in effect. Maybe it should be changed after discussion and input. That is not the point here. Staff does not make policy. The Commission does.

 

If staff did not know its own code, that is a real problem. If staff ignored the code because they thought they knew best, that is an even bigger problem.

 

A few years ago, this issue came up when the restaurant in the Arcade Building was being refurbished and expanded. Then before going forward, it was vetted by different interest groups such as Downtown Business Association and Stuart Main Street. A solution was found, and there was substantial public input into that result. There has been no input this time.

 

With all the speeches about transparency and involving the people, it seems to me that the City (or least some of the staff) has decided that it finds the citizens, and maybe even the Commissioners, superfluous. This is the bureaucratic boondoggle that citizens complain about.

 

I hope the Commission pushes back. It would be great if downtown boutiques did so. At the very least, citizens have a right to know who is in charge and why this and other similar things have happened recently.  By ignoring what has worked well in maintaining Stuart’s small-town charm, while remaining a destination, we may find ourselves a different place.

The Shape Of Things To Come?

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At some point, Stuart and Martin County will begin to reopen. Much of how we react to the lifting of restrictions will depend on when it occurs, what are the phases, and how others behave.

 

Governor DeSantis will need to be clear on what he is intending to do and accomplish. That will mean his orders will have to be written so that Floridians will clearly understand them. He will have to give some discretion to local governments to tailor his orders to local needs and sensibilities.

 

The ultimate arbiter of what happens will be the collective responses of individuals. Before the shutdown, we all had our own routines. For me, going back to mine will be different than for you going back to your routine. Even when everything opens, will people immediately resume their old patterns?

 

Some of us will not be returning to crowded golf courses at first. Others will be circumspect about frolicking on the beach or hitting balls at the tennis courts. Many, on the other hand, may be back golfing, swimming, and hitting balls as soon as possible. How many though will resume those activities with a little trepidation?

 

Before the time of corona, many of us would go out to lunch several times a week with others. Breaking bead with a person leads to a rapport that you cannot get any other way. This activity may resume very slowly. Going forward will we think this social and intimate lunch could be a breeding ground for the spread of the virus.

 

Two months ago, my wife and I would go out to dinner once or twice per week. Since the lock down that has been a thing of the past. The restaurant experience of being served by a competent professional who makes customers welcome is a big part of the charm. It was special as opposed to sitting at the kitchen table. Will we feel the same if the server is in gloves and mask?

 

Many enjoyed having friends over for dinner at our homes. Like many I would hope at some point to resume that. Every time there is a sneeze, or a cough will a little apprehension be felt at the table.

 

Except for our forays out for grocery shopping, many have kept close to home. My car has not needed a fill up for a month, and I still have more than half a tank. If you enjoyed travelling pre-pandemic how many have had to cancel plans?

 

I would go up north for business and to see family regularly. Sometimes, I flew twice a month to New York City. I treated JetBlue as a commuter line. I have not taken a flight since March 7th. And while I miss the family, I do not think I will be travelling as much for business going forward.

 

Other things will change for many of us. Will we visit retail stores less?  Have we become a little more use to the convenience of buying online? For many products you can do your shopping while watching television.  Does this drive another nail in mom and pop type stores’ demise?

 

Each of us will adjust our life as restrictions are lifted. I am assuming that as those restrictions are lifted, people will act rationally because the virus is still out there. If restrictions need to be re-imposed, then that will be a blow to our psyches. Open and closing businesses may create insurmountable challenges for many businesses ever being able to reopen after repeated shutdowns. That is just a fact. Confidence is shaky at best.

 

We had riots in the street over the Vietnam War. Over more than a dozen years, U.S. casualties for that conflict were less than 2 months of COVID-19. That experience profoundly changed how my generation saw our government and society. This will probably do the same for millennials and the generation still attending school.

 

This pandemic will have even more of an effect than any occurrence since the Great Depression. Our economy has not even begun to process all the ramifications. How many people will go back to work? How long will it take to achieve less than 3% unemployment again, if ever.

 

Our nation and the world are changed. Things we have taken for granted will be different. The restaurant and hospitality industry will be forever altered. More jobs will be automated so that there will be less human contact. Commercial real estate will undergo a transformation as working from home will become more common and social distancing a new norm.

 

H.G. Wells authored a book in 1933 tilled, The Shape of Things to Come. It is a work of science fiction regarding a pandemic, depression, and eternal war. Though fiction it predicted World War II and the carpet bombing of civilians in cities. What we are living through now many of us would think a year ago could never happen. That we would be protected in our cocoon.

 

Changes will occur because individuals will make decisions based on their experiences with the pandemic. It may take years to know and understand the lasting effects. One of the biggest changes will be that the baby boomers will finally cede power to those of Generation X and the Millennials. They will be the ones deciding what is important in our society and what is not. That is not a bad thing going forward.

The Greatest Of Sacrifices

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Americans love to say we are fighting an enemy. Presidents do it in order to mobilize the nation and boost their egos.

 

Johnson had a war on poverty and Nixon declared a war on cancer while, in both instances, they oversaw a real one in Vietnam. Reagan and Bush 41 had their wars on drugs and crime along with various armed conflicts in Beirut, Nicaragua, Kuwait, and tiny Grenada during their 12 years.

 

Clinton battled in Kosovo and won while he lost the battle for Health Care at home. Bush 43 and Obama had the war on terror domestically but did not defeat our enemies on the battlefields in the Middle East.

 

Trump also calls himself a wartime president not because our armed forces are still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, but because of the battle every American at home is waging against COVID-19. The Presidents of the United States have had the country in a fighting war in one form or another since I was in grade school 60 years ago.

 

Is war the right term to describe anything but actual combat with an armed enemy? Poverty, drugs, cancer, crime, and inadequate healthcare may be destroying our society, but for the most part, they are internal and self-inflicted problems. Even terror is more an existential threat to the nation than an actual one. And during all these supposed wars, what have civilians been asked to sacrifice?

 

My father was too young to fight in World War II and my grandfathers were too old. Any sacrifices my parents and grandparents made were on the home front. Ration books were needed to buy gasoline, meat, and sugar. But these were the same people that had known hardship during the “Great Depression.” To this day, my mother hates parsnips and turnips because they were so much of her diet growing up.

 

During Vietnam, civilians weren’t asked to have meatless days or not drive their cars. It was pretty good on the home front for most Americans. That war would have continued much longer if it weren’t for the draft. At some point, forcing too many unwilling 19-year old boys to die for national pride is not sustainable.

 

After that conflict, a brilliant idea occurred to our politicians! Why not introduce an all-volunteer force with nobody forced to serve. That would eliminate most of us having to give up anything including our lives involuntarily for the country.  You no longer needed buy-in to have an endless war. And that premise has worked well ever since.

 

Interestingly, soldiers have been in an actual state of combat since 1941 and haven’t been in a declared war since 1945. The Congress gets to complain and take no responsibilities. While sending our men and women into harm’s way, our Presidents can ignore that fact when it is not convenient or embrace it when it is. In the meantime, they can declare war on all sorts of things including, currently, a virus.

 

Since civilians have not been asked to sacrifice anything for 75 years, we are not very good at it. In fact, while we have been in all these wars both real and rhetorical, we have demanded more government services while also demanding to pay less taxes. Our nation has nothing to show for any of this except a huge deficit and no victories.

 

In the war against the virus, we are asked to remain at home and limit our interaction with others. Besides toilet paper and hand sanitizer, our stores are stocked. There has been no income tax surcharge to defer some of the costs. If you are like me, your travel has been curtailed and a vacation has been cancelled. That is not much of a sacrifice.

 

We don’t do sacrifice well even when thousands of Americans are dying. The most burning question in this war is “Will I catch the virus or not. If I do will I be able to have adequate treatment and finally have a test to confirm the diagnosis?”

 

In Florida where I live, it seems the greatest sacrifice that many may be asked to make is not to play golf. The furor that has erupted reminds me of the protests of the 60s only with the affluent protesters having more gray hair. A few weeks without golf would seem to be too much of a sacrifice for our pampered civilians to make…even for their own health and that of their loved ones.

 

For you see we are in a battle. Not with guns and tanks but against a virus. Our economy has cratered. Many businesses will not reopen. Our children have missed school. People will be in debt perhaps lose their homes.

 

None of that is too much a price for victory. But here in Martin County, Florida, the great sacrifice of closed golf courses is too much to bear.

 

 

MCTV Should Belong To Everyone!

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GE Photo

There are 168 hours in a week. 24 hours in a day. 302,400 minutes in the average month. I think it is more than enough available time for MCTV to televise every meeting for every government in the County. In fact, each meeting could be repeated several times. So why isn’t what should be called the tax-payer-funded Martin County Citizens Channel doing so?

 

Much has to do with inertia…county government believing that since they have never done so, why should they do so now could be a prevalent thought. Another possibility is a more parochial one…the channel belongs to the government. In my mind, those are lame excuses. The County should do it because it is in the public’s interest to know what their governments are doing in their names. That was the concept of having government channels when franchise agreements with providers were signed in accordance with Section 611 of the Communications Act.

 

It is amazing how many people tune in to watch meetings. It is more than I would ever have expected. Not everyone can go to BOCC meetings but almost everyone can watch the re-airing later. Many of us do.

 

What has really brought this to the forefront is the shutting down of public meetings in the time of COVID-19. Different boards have tried and done their best, but it has resulted in limited public input. The “public square” has been cordoned off. Zoom has been used in the breach, but it is nothing like a real face to face meeting.

 

And when a citizen can’t be there, televised meetings are the next best thing. Body language, which sometimes conveys more than words, helps identify where someone stands on an issue. C-Span has been going strong for the past 40 years showing unedited content of Congress and our national government. There is the Florida Channel which does much the same for Tallahassee. MCTV should serve the same function for Martin County.

 

MCTV production costs are paid for through the County’s General Fund. Whether you live in unincorporated Martin County, Stuart, Indiantown or the other municipalities, every taxpayer is contributing. The intention of the station was never to be the lone mouthpiece to showcase how staff views things. It was to inform the public on all government.

 

There would be added expense for sure. Most of it should be borne by the general fund and some by the governmental entities based on population. Currently, the only other governmental entity that broadcasts a meeting is the School Board. That meeting is not shown live but rather a couple of days later. I would imagine that is because closed captioning must be inserted.

 

The School Board is charged a premium. It is against the concept of sunshine and open government.

 

The station should operate much as C-Span does and not as a propaganda arm of Martin County government. Today, we have the capability of making sure that citizens have the knowledge of what is being done in their names, televised meetings are as much a part of government as other departments.

 

The County Commission should get behind this effort and spearhead it. The other governments and their boards should also be lobbying to see this occur. I hear from many board members that they are committed to transparency. Having televised government meetings for every board in Martin County would be a way to show their commitment to that principle.

What Is A Leader?

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What is the role of a leader when the nation and the world is in a crisis? During times of upheaval, people look toward someone to provide answers, solutions, and comfort. Currently, none of those things are coming from anyone in Washington. The administration is proving itself ineptly incompetent and worse.

 

As the legislative branch, Congress can pass laws but cannot instill confidence. The limited trust that the American people did have in their representatives has become even less with the purported antics like Senators Burr, Feinstein, Inhofe, and Loeffler using confidential government briefings held in January and February to determine what stocks to buy and sell rather than proposing legislation to address what they knew was coming to our shores.

 

Governors have shown some strong leadership skills. For example, Andrew Cuomo has handled the situation well. I have not agreed or been a fan of his policies but in this instance, he has shown what real leadership is supposed to be. Other examples are Governors DeWine of Ohio, Newsom in California and to a lesser extent DeSantis in Florida have taken appropriate action in their states to protect citizens.

 

In many parts of the country, local government is led by an elected mayor or county executive. They have authority to act decisively. We don’t have that here. There is no one individual for us to rally around. A commission or council are legislative. Even during press conferences with the mayor or chair speaking, he/she can only state an agreed upon policy.

 

That doesn’t mean the figurehead can’t provide solace to an anxious public. Real leadership is expressed in gestures and deeds. With this pandemic, the wartime analogy being used is a flawed one. There is not an enemy to defeat but rather a situation to endure and survive while creating solutions to immediate problems along the way. This threat is existential rather than responding to aggression by a nation or a race.

 

Leaders make us believe in ourselves. They do not lie and sugarcoat the difficulties that we face. Leaders demonstrate a path to follow usually by example. People want to be led inspirationally. The use of fears, lies and innuendo will not do during moments of uncertainty. Leaders inspire the best in us and never the worst.

 

Leadership demands accountability and responsibility. To be a leader means you make decisions. FDR led this nation through the turmoil of the Depression and World War II. A quote of his that epitomizes those tenets is this: “Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.”

 

Leaders fail sometimes. Their continuing success is measured by the people still trusting in their ultimate ability to inspire hope and give us confidence to endure. You cannot be a leader and do nothing. The one common trait of all great leaders is being an inspiration to those being led. Leaders show up when others do not.

 

As we, the American people, look to the future, we do so with dread. Many Americans will be out of work for months. Others will lose their businesses. Some of us will die. This will be no short-term crisis but one that will last for weeks and probably months.

 

When we are confronted with a crisis like this, it is so important that we pick our leaders wisely. We cannot afford the luxury any longer of having slogans substitute for competence. By the time this pandemic is over, the United States and the rest of the world will have fundamentally changed in many ways.  Hopefully, our leadership will have learned from the mistakes made and will be better prepared to deal with the next crisis.

 

As they fled from bondage in Egypt, the ancient Israelites followed Moses and his brother, Aaron. While Moses was on Mount Sinai, it was Aaron who told his people to worship the golden calf. If the Israelites had rejected the truth of Moses for the sophistry of Aaron, history would have been different. Ultimately, Moses with the Law from God led the people to the promised land.  Perhaps our national leaders will soon embrace a more Moses-like attitude in their approach to COVID 19.

THE END OF AN ERA???

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It is no secret that print newspapers are at death’s door.

 

Some papers, such as The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, are alive and well. These are national papers despite their parochial names. They continue to have readership growth, especially their online editions. Many older people grew up reading at least one or two papers a day. If you commuted to school or work by public transportation, newspapers were in the hands of 80% of the riders. Perhaps this is part of the explanation for why these few papers thrive.

 

Fifty years ago, there were no cable news stations. Local TV news was 30 minutes followed by 30 minutes of network broadcasts of world and national reports.  Back then, reading a newspaper was the best way to find out what was going on in your town. I remember having several daily newspapers in our home as a kid.

 

Even today, I read two or three papers every day. I watch cable news, occasionally PBS and, only when a hurricane is approaching, local TV. One of the papers I do read is Stuart News. For the past several years, I have received only the digital version, and I read it everyday wherever I happen to be.

 

Our world has changed with social and digital media. Most Americans just don’t spend the money to buy a local newspaper any longer. An old law that legal notices should be published for the public’s information is an antiquated idea. I don’t know about you, but the first thing I do for information regarding Stuart or Martin County government is go on their websites.

 

Those websites are my first stop if I want to know whether there is a meeting or not. I can find the entire meeting agenda and most of the backup for the items. In the newspaper, all that is published is what is required by statute. The website is free and while I like and support newspapers, I don’t think taxpayers should subsidize them. Requiring publication of meeting, legal, and all government notices in the classifieds is something whose time has passed.

 

I find it ironic that newspaper companies have and continue to lobby hard for this subsidy. They are usually champions against government waste. When was the last time any of us looked to the Stuart News to find out about an upcoming meeting? In the age of Facebook and Twitter, email notifications and websites, I would choose many other options before going through the classifieds.

 

Government websites could be mandated by statute to have special sections to make it easy for the public to find notices. There is still a small segment of the population that can’t or won’t use the internet, but those individuals are becoming fewer and fewer. We shouldn’t burden taxpayers with subsidizing a medium that they no longer find relevant in their daily lives.  It is too bad that something that I personally love has become so irrelevant.

 

Children, Height and Stuart

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Recently, Stuart has apparently offended several communities on its municipal borders.

 

In both instances, developers have proposals to build multi-family projects on vacant land. Both are located on major thoroughfares. What they are attempting to do is bring new housing to the City that actually looks like it belongs in an urban setting. It’s the kind of housing everyone claims we need until it is next to your home.

 

The first is on East Ocean Blvd nestled next to Kingswood which is in the City. Kingswood is an over age 55 community. Their residents are apparently deathly afraid of having families with children living next to them. At the last LPA meeting on February 20, Kingswood resident after resident voiced concerns regarding the proximity that they would have to the greatest evil they can imagine which, apparently, are kids.

 

Perhaps this is an outgrowth of an increasingly selfish society. Just imagine if these same individuals were objecting to new neighbors based on race, ethnicity, religion, or a myriad of other unacceptable reasons. How about if a developer wanted to build an over-55 community in the middle of a family neighborhood, and the kids objected to grandma and grandpa moving in.

 

The second project is fronting Federal Highway off Harrison Street in South Stuart. The developer wants to build 7 four-story buildings on 13.9 acres consisting of 280 apartments with amenities. There are single family homes in a development known as Springtree surrounding the proposed site to the rear. They are objecting because of traffic, density and the height of the buildings. At least they are not worried about the characteristics of the new occupants.

 

Humans are programmed to hate change. Change to our daily routine. Change to our diet. And definitely change to our surroundings. If it was a vacant piece of land when we moved here, then it should remain as such even though the current location of my house or condo was once a vacant piece of real estate.

 

If you live within the City of Stuart, on its borders or within the Urban Services Boundary, those vacant lots next to you are going to be developed at some point in the near or far future. Those strip centers that are now nearly empty are going to be re-purposed or demolished to make way for something new and probably bigger.

 

You cannot claim to care about our waterways and then object when vacant land in cities, CRAs, and within the Urban Services Boundary are built upon. The alternative is sprawl. The alternative is more and more congestion on our roadways. The alternative is more concrete and less open space in the western part of the county.

 

Single family homes are expensive to build and then to own. Realistically, fewer and fewer of us can afford or want to live in these homes. During the Springtree presentation at the City, a picture was shown of a four-story condo, The Edgewater, on St Lucie Crescent in Stuart which also happens to be my neighborhood.

 

This condominium is surrounded by townhouses, single-family homes, rental apartment buildings, and an office building. My mother-in-law lived at that building for thirty years. My wife and I had an apartment there as our Stuart home for 10 years. For the past 15 years, we have lived in a single-family home that we built less than 500 feet from that building. There are no setbacks or trees to hide the site and certainly not a 350-foot preserve and 50-foot additional planted setback as is planned for the development near Springtree. It is a cohesive, friendly, diverse neighborhood where everyone, for the most part, gets along with each other.

 

There really is no sustainable path forward if we continue with the Florida sprawl. Young people can’t afford to spend $500,000 to buy a home. Most people can’t afford those prices. Slowly, we are pricing ourselves out of affordable, workforce, and middle-income housing in Martin County. This is the legacy of NIMBY. Most Martin residents’ visions are nothing should be built, but if something does have to be, make it a single-family sprawl development. Oh, and no children or neighbors, please.